Amey: Waste Recycling Centre User Satisfaction Survey
Background & Context
Amey operated the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) across Central Bedfordshire and commissioned M·E·L Research to undertake an independent user satisfaction survey across all four HWRC sites. The purpose of the research was to understand how residents used the sites, assess satisfaction with different aspects of the customer experience, explore awareness of changes to accepted recycling materials, and identify opportunities to maintain or improve service delivery.
The study covered the four HWRCs located at Ampthill, Biggleswade, Leighton Buzzard and Thorn Turn. As these facilities serve a wide geographical area and experience varying patterns of use, it was important that the research captured feedback from a broad cross-section of users across different locations, days of the week and times of day. The operational environment also presented practical challenges, with interviews needing to be conducted safely within live waste recycling sites without disrupting traffic movements or site operations.
Approach
M·E·L Research designed and delivered a comprehensive quantitative customer satisfaction programme, ensuring that robust, statistically reliable evidence was gathered across all four Household Waste Recycling Centres.The project included the following stages:
Questionnaire design and preparation:
- A structured questionnaire was developed to measure overall satisfaction, satisfaction with specific elements of the sites, customer service, awareness of new recycling materials, communication preferences and visitor characteristics.
- The questionnaire also incorporated open-ended questions to explore reasons behind satisfaction and dissatisfaction, enabling richer qualitative insight alongside the quantitative findings.
Interviewer briefing and site preparation
- Experienced field interviewers attended a project briefing covering the study objectives, questionnaire content, site procedures and health and safety requirements.
- At each HWRC, interviewers completed site inductions with supervisors and undertook site-specific risk assessments before fieldwork commenced.
- Interview locations were agreed collaboratively with site supervisors to ensure interviews could be undertaken safely while avoiding disruption to vehicle movements and site operations.
Face-to-face survey fieldwork
- Face-to-face interviews were undertaken using tablets (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing – CAPI), allowing responses to be captured electronically and eliminating the need for subsequent manual data entry.
- A bespoke SNAP database was created specifically for the project to improve data quality and reduce processing time.
- Interviewers approached users while they were disposing of waste or recycling materials and invited them to participate in the survey.
- Fieldwork was undertaken across weekdays and weekends to ensure a representative mix of users and usage patterns.
- In total, 1,034 interviews were completed across the four sites: Ampthill (256 interviews), Biggleswade (260 interviews), Leighton Buzzard (260 interviews), and Thorn Turn (258 interviews)
Statistical analysis
- Sampling confidence intervals were calculated for the overall survey and individual sites, providing transparency around the statistical precision of results.
- M·E·L Research undertook Key Driver Analysis, using correlation analysis and adjusted R-squared modelling to identify which aspects of the visitor experience had the greatest influence on overall satisfaction. This enabled the client to prioritise those service elements with the strongest impact on customer perceptions.
Qualitative analysis
- Open-ended responses were systematically reviewed and coded into thematic categories for each satisfaction measure, allowing recurring themes and suggestions for improvement to be identified and quantified.
Outputs
M·E·L Research produced a comprehensive written report presenting detailed analysis across all aspects of the research. The outputs included:
- Detailed statistical analysis of user demographics and visitor profiles.
- Catchment analysis using respondents’ postcode information to understand where visitors travelled from.
- Analysis of site usage, including frequency of visits and use of neighbouring recycling centres.
- Satisfaction results for individual aspects of the HWRC experience, including: Overall site satisfaction, Cleanliness, Range of materials accepted, Parking facilities, Opening hours, Site signage, Layout of facilities, Queuing and waiting times, ReUse shop (where applicable) & Trade waste facilities (where applicable).
- Thematic analysis of open-ended comments explaining why users were satisfied or dissatisfied with each aspect of the service.
- Customer service assessment covering staff helpfulness, politeness, knowledge and ease of identification.
- Analysis of awareness of newly accepted recycling materials, including carpets and hard plastics.
- Identification of additional materials users wished to recycle.
- Analysis of preferred communication channels used by residents to obtain information about HWRC services.
- Key Driver Analysis identifying the service attributes most strongly associated with overall customer satisfaction, providing evidence-based priorities for maintaining high performance.
The research demonstrated exceptionally high levels of customer satisfaction across the HWRC network, with users reporting extremely positive experiences across most aspects of the service. The statistical modelling identified layout of facilities, queuing and waiting times, and site signage as the strongest drivers of overall satisfaction, providing Amey with clear evidence of where continued operational focus would have the greatest impact on maintaining customer satisfaction.
The findings provided Amey with a robust evidence base to monitor service performance, understand customer behaviour, evaluate awareness of service developments, and inform future operational and communications planning across the Household Waste Recycling Centre network.
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